Around 40 operations have been cancelled after a rat was spotted in a Nottinghamshire hospital's operating theatre.

All operations were suspended for one day after the rat made its way into the theatre last Monday 29th October.

A King's Mill Hospital spokesperson said there is no cause for concern for patients as this was "a one off incident" and assures them that the area has since been fully sterilised.

Pest control was called in after the rodent was found in the decommissioned operating theatre.

"We are proud of our services and the extremely high quality of care we offer to our patients, so we were extremely shocked to learn that there was evidence of a rodent having entered a decommissioned operating theatre during the night, at a time when the department was not in use.

"I would like to reassure any concerned patient or relative that this was a minor, one-off incident that occurred over a week ago. We took immediate and comprehensive action to rectify matters and to restore services with the minimum of disruption. We are fully operational again. There is no cause for concern."

– Karen Tomlinson, director of operations at the hospital

The hospital has apologised for each of the 40 patients affected who have had their operations rescheduled.